afflict

Definitions

vafflictcause great unhappiness for; distress"she was afflicted by the death of her parents"

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Interesting fact:
Mouth ulcers are the most common human affliction.

p. p. & aAfflictAfflicted.

AfflictTo inflict some great injury or hurt upon, causing continued pain or mental distress; to trouble grievously; to torment."They did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.""That which was the worst now least afflicts me."

AfflictTo make low or humble."Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error before an afflicted truth."

afflictTo distress with mental or bodily pain; trouble greatly or grievously; harass or torment: as, to be afflicted with the gout, or by persecution.

afflictSynonyms Afflict, Distress, Trouble, Harass, Torment; try, pain, hurt, plague, persecute. Of these words, afflict implies the most spiritual effect, the greatest depth and continuance of sorrow. To distress is a more outward act, bringing one into straitness of circumstances or feeling, so that there is more anxiety for the future, while perhaps the afflicted person knows the full measure of his loss and is wholly occupied with the past. To trouble is a lighter act, involving perhaps confusion or uncertainty of mind, and especially embarrassment. Harass, as applied to mind or body, suggests the infliction of the weariness that comes from the continuance or repetition of trying experiences, so that there is not time for rest. Torment implies the infliction of acute pain, physical or mental, and is frequently used in the sense of harassing by frequent return. The use of afflicted otherwise than of persons severally or collectively is highly figurative or poetic: as, my afflicted fortunes; the other words have freer figurative use. See affliction.

afflictAfflicted; distressed.

nafflictConflict; struggle.

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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary

v.tAfflictaf-flikt′ to give continued pain, distress, or grief: to harass, or vex

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Quotations

Henry Ward Beecher

“Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise.”

Rosalind Russell

“When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.”

H.G. Wells

“Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions.”

Christian Nevell Bovee

“Affliction, like the iron-smith, shapes as it smites.”

Sir Richard Burton

“As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue.”

Benjamin Franklin

“To bear other people's afflictions, everyone has courage and enough to spare.”

Following developments in the newspaper industry is like paying daily visits to a terminally ill friend in a hospital, watching him die in 24-hour increments while hoping someone will hit upon a cure for what afflicts him.

Last week 38 United States senators demonstrated the political disability afflicting Congress when they voted down an international treaty to help create better standards of living for disabled people worldwide.